The principal reason for our visit to Lelystad was to visit Broom's sole agent in the Netherlands, De Vaart Yachting. Unfortunately our navigation had been slightly off, and they were actually based in the Flevo Marina, north of the lock, rather than the Lelystad-Haven, so this morning we had to retrace our footsteps back through the lock in order to moor up outside their office. On closer inspection, the Flevo Marina seemed an attractive and well-equipped harbour, with good facilities near to the moorings, including a convenient waterside restaurant. We had a constructive meeting with Broom dealer, Arnold IJkelenstam, leaving him with a supply of our Owners Club leaflets, and discussing the possibility of a rally there in future years.

After this it was time to set sail, it being an even hotter and humid day than we had been used to. When it rained every day in Holland the locals said "It's not normal for Holland", and now it's hot they say "It's not normal for Holland"!. We took the afternoon to make a leisurely cruise across the IJsselmeer, heading for the sheltered basin of the Gouwzee, home to Marken, Monnickendam and Volendam. We chose Monnickendam for our landfall, planning to visit the other, more touristy centres by bike, and hopefully avoiding most of the Amsterdam coach parties. We found what we thought might be a controversial mooring spot to the left of the town bridge, marked as "Only for ships longer than 12 metre". Although it was mainly occupied by "Brown Fleet" charter sailing boats, we could legitimately claim to be longer than 12 metres and duly moored up. The easy going harbour master was more concerned with the heat than our location and in fact it turned out these were legitimate municipal moorings for larger boats.

Monnickendam is named after the Frisian monks who first built the dam and settled here in the 13th century - origins aptly portrayed on their town sticker. The harbourside fishmongers provided a fine selection of smoked fish and seafood for our onboard dining, although the De Waegh restaurant, housed in the 17th century weigh building on the Zuiderkade was also a popular choice, and a fitting venue for our "gala dinner" the following evening. The main industry in Monnickendam seems to be eel smoking, commemorated in statue form on the quay, with the produce available in several stalls around the town.

A 5km cycle ride took us to Volendam, the more touristy of the Gouwzee ports. The small harbour is busy with fishing and local boats, but there is still room for visiting boats to raft up on the eastern wall. Most visitors arrive by coach from Amsterdam, and the quayside cafes and gift shops cater for their every need. Behind the dyke, something of the old atmosphere remains with traditional houses lining small waterways crossed by hand operated bridges.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 20 nm

Total to date: 1413 nm

Avg Speed: 5 knots

Duration: 3:43 hours

Diesel: 44 litres

Mooring: €14

Electricity: Meter (all coins)

Bridges

Houtribsluisbrug (7m)

Locks

Houtribsluis

Charts

1810.5